Chasing the Fionist Dream

If you’ve been reading our blog, you may have noticed that it’s been 8 months since we published our last travel post. (Far too long in our opinion.) While we had a great time in Cyprus, we love visiting and experiencing different parts of Israel, learning about our nation’s ancient and modern history, and spending our money to support local small businesses. If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out our trip posts for Akko, Eilat, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Bat Yam. 🇮🇱

This trip was originally inspired by the many Mount Hermon posts we saw on social media this season. Wouldn’t it be fun to relive a favorite childhood memory and go sledding with our kids? In Israel? How cool would that be?! Unfortunately, a few weeks of excited Googling proved that snow in the Middle East is no where near as fun as snow in the American Midwest. Not only is it far away and hard to get to, the site closes when there is too little snow, or too much, or when it is windy, snowing, or too full. We’d probably be better off hopping over to a European country where snow is more common. We’ll get to that at some point.

So we zoomed out and started looking at the Golan and Galil in general, searching for things our kids would like. As public transportation isn’t all that developed in that part of the country, a trip to the Golan would require us to a rent a car for the duration of the trip, something we weren’t excited about doing. And while tempting and gorgeous, the resorts in the Golan are over a thousand shekels a night for a family of four and don’t have cooking facilities. They are also in small, secluded towns – which is great if you want to relax, but less convenient for a family on the move.

We ultimately decided to base ourselves in Tverya (Tiberias), since we could bus there and then rent a CityCar as needed. (Fun fact: It was cheaper to rent one for 48 hours than 36. So that’s what we did.) The city was also hard-hit by the war and has been struggling financially ever since, so we were happy to give it our business. Accommodations were cheaper there too.

As always, read to the end to find out how much we spent. 💰

So, what did we do? What was it like? And how much did it all cost us?

Day 1 – Arrival, hot springs, and exploring Tverya

After arriving in Tverya by bus, our first stop was Hamat Tiberias National Park. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the shaded picnic tables, walked around a bit, and then changed into our bathing suits. The park is beautiful and has a great view of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).

While it was warm enough to walk around in short sleeves (and even a wet bathing suit), the Kinneret itself was still far too cold to swim in in February. These hot springs were a great option for getting wet and splashing around – and were shockingly inexpensive at 46 shekels for all of us. While there was plenty of archaeology and ancient artifacts to see and learn about, we never made it past the three thermal baths open to the public. It is also right next to the tomb of Rebbe Meir Ba’al Hanes, but we didn’t make it there either.

Once we finally managed to get our kids out of the water and dry them off, we got on the bus and headed to our Airbnb at the Kings Towers, right on the Kinneret. (Each morning we got to see birds migrating during sunrise over the Kinneret. Absolutely magical.)

After settling in, showering, and relaxing, we headed out in search of some dinner. While it turns out there were plenty of pizza places around, the only one we could find in the dark after a long day was the ultra-mehadrin one that didn’t have any seating (lest its hashgacha gets revoked). We ordered some pizza, french fries, and a salad, and ate at the nearby municipal park. We made it just in time to watch the light show at the fountains.

After dinner, we returned to our Airbnb, tucked the kids into bed, and Fiona went out to pick up our CityCar for our next two days of adventures.

Day 2 – Hiking, waterfalls, and time traveling

After breakfast, we piled into our rental car and ascended the mountain to the Golan Heights. Our first stop was the Gamla Nature Reserve. For us cityfolk, this really felt like the middle of nowhere. And it was windier than we expected.

We took the red trail, a kilometer and a half downhill, culminating in a gorgeous view of a ravine and Israel’s longest waterfall – and then a kilometer and a half back up to the top. We were a bit worried that our kids wouldn’t like the hike – or would have trouble making it all the way down and all the way back up.

But nope. They left us in the dust.

They immediately ran off, followed the trail all the way to the lookout point, briefly glanced at the waterfall, and ran all the way back to the beginning.

As we climbed back up the mountain, hundreds of teenage girls and their teachers were hiking down it. Every few minutes, someone told us they saw our kids, our kids were fine, and they were impressed at how adept at hiking they were.

When we finally found our kids waiting for us by the visitors center, we had a snack and let them each pick out a souvenir. They each picked out a stuffed animal of a species native to Israel – a frog and a bat. We’d tell you the exact species, their lifespans, and more info about them – except that we promptly lost the tags.

From there we got in the car and made a brief stop at the Ayit Waterfall.

After some photos, we got back in the car and drove to Katzrin for lunch at a burger place and our next activity – Ancient Katzrin Park. There we dressed in clothes from 1,600 years ago and learned about the Jewish community that used to exist there. Our self-guided tour started with a short video about all of the different parts of the village – homes, the synagogue, the bathhouse, and the places where they milled the wheat, ground the flour, pressed olive oil, etc.

Then we walked around and got to try all of those things.

The synagogue was the main attraction, but there was nothing for kids to do there, so we didn’t stay long. You’ll have to go see it for yourself. 🙂

Before we left, we visited the ancient bakery and sampled a meal that was traditionally served to guests in this region 1,600 years ago. Yum.

From there, we headed back to Tverya, where we did some quick grocery shopping and made dinner at our accommodations.

Day 3 – Kinneret, animals, chocolate, and more Kinneret

Our kids had been asking to visit the Kinneret since we got here, and while we had seen the Kinneret plenty, we hadn’t actually gotten up close and personal with it. So we started our morning at the Tiberias Promenade (טיילת טבריה), and climbed the rocks down to the shore.

The kids enjoyed climbing on the uneven terrain and throwing stones into the water. As it was February, there was hardly anyone there and it was so calm and relaxing.

Next we drove to Jungle Kef in Kibbutz Bet Zera. They accept just about every Israeli discount club, so you likely will be able to get in without paying full price.

We spent several hours visiting the animals. We had our picnic lunch and bought ice cream. Then it was time to go.

Our next stop was Galita Chocolate Farm in Kibbutz Dganya Bet. There, we learned how chocolate is made, and got to make our own! The kids made a bus and a house. We parents made boring but delicious pralines. We used discount club vouchers to bring the cost of this one down too.

After completing a scavenger hunt while our chocolate set – and winning even more chocolate for getting the answers correct – we stopped at the beach again on our way back to Tverya.

Bliss.

We then stopped at Pizza Arena for some dinner and headed back to our accommodations. We also returned the car sharing car that night.

Day 4 – Boating, topiary, fancy pastries, and returning home

After another lazy breakfast on the balcony overlooking the Kinneret, we packed up our things and headed to the Yigal Alon Promenade. We passed a mosque and a bunch of synagogues. Being off-season, many of the stalls were closed, but we enjoyed walking around and looking at the water. We then used another discount club voucher to rent a motor boat from Olam Hamayim. When our kids asked if they could drive, we laughed them off… until the vendor informed us all that once we made our way to the middle of the lake – away from other boats – it was totally fine for our kids to drive! We insisted that they only drive in low gear. They mostly drove us in tight circles. It wouldn’t surprise us if anyone watching us from shore thought our driver was drunk.

Once we returned to shore, we wandered over to the Tiberias Archeological Gardens, where in addition to a bunch of old stuff, we found impressive topiary,

an amphitheater,

heart arches that must be gorgeous when in bloom,

And a cute newly opened patisserie where we stopped for fancy pastries and coffee.

From there, we returned to our Airbnb, checked out, and made our way to the Tiberias Central Bus Station. There we bought and ate some lunch and got on our return bus home.

Costs

We rented a one-bedroom Airbnb suite at Kings Towers. It was right on the Kinneret, next to the Leonardo Hotel, but cost a fraction of the price. We spent 1,324 shekels for 3 nights.

Roundtrip bus tickets from our city to Tiberias were a whopping 19 shekels (!!!) all told, since three of the four of us have month passes on our Rav Kav or public transportation app. We also rented a car-sharing car for 48 hours and paid 560 shekels total including all of the kilometers we drove.

We spent 938 shekels on activities, with the chocolate workshop being significantly the most expensive. We used discount club vouchers to bring the cost down on three attractions, which saved us about 170 shekels in total. Two others were national parks, which were inexpensive to begin with and would have been free for anyone with a Matmon membership.

We ate at restaurants once per day and spent 688 shekels on eating out. We also spent 452 shekels on grocery shopping.

The bat and frog plushies cost us 106 shekels for both.

In total, we spent 4,087 shekels (not including the 400 shekels we spent for a dogsitter who pampered and spoiled our furry girl while we were away) all-inclusive for four people spending four days in the Galil and Golan. We find this particularly impressive considering that had we gone the traditional hotel route, this amount could have covered our accommodations alone.

Conclusion

Having come in search of fun family bonding and memory making, this trip definitely did not disappoint. There are so many things to do in and around the Kinneret – more hikes, nature spots, kivrei tzaddikim, and of course Aquakef – which looks fabulous – and all of the other water activities. This just means we’ll have to come back 😉

Have you been to the Kinneret? Where in Israel would you like to visit next?

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